King Tedyuskung Questioned at Great Indian Conference in Easton, October 8, 1758

Governor Denny informed the Assembly September 12, 1758, that a general meeting of Indians has been agreed upon, to take place in Easton.

Tedyuskung and some of his retinue arrived early in Easton, and started on a debauch while awaiting the important event. Whereupon Reverend Richard Peters, the Provincial secretary, was requested to go to Easton immediately to keep the Indians in order.

This conference was opened Sunday, October 8, 1758, with 500 Indians in attendance. Governor Denny, members of Council and the Assembly, Commissioners for Indian Affairs in New Jersey, Conrad Weiser, George Croghan and a large number of Quakers from Philadelphia made up the attendance of the whites.

Governor Bernard, of New Jersey, joined the conference when it had been in session three days, and promptly demanded that the Munsee deliver up captives taken from that Province.

All the tribes of the Six Nations took part in the treaty; but the Mohawk had only one deputy, Nikes Carigiatatie, in attendance, and the Cayuga were represented by a single chief, Kandt, alias “Last Night.”

Unlike the several previous conferences, Tedyuskung was not the principal speaker at this treaty, but that proud position was assumed by Takeghsatu, a Seneca. He early addressed the Governor and others in these words:

“Brethren—I now speak at the request of Tedyuskung and our cousins the Delawares, living at Wyoming and on the waters of the River Susquehanna. We now remove the hatchet out of your heads that was struck into them by our cousins, the Delawares. It was a French hatchet that they unfortunately made use of, by the instigation of the French. We take it out of your heads and bury it under the ground, where it shall always rest and never be taken up again. Our 701cousins, the Delawares, have assured us they will never think of war against their brethren, the English, any more, but will employ their thoughts about peace and cultivating friendship with them, and never suffer enmity against them to enter their minds again.”

Two days later, Nikes, the Mohawk, stood up and, addressing himself to Governors Denny and Bernard, said:

“We thought proper to meet you here to have some discourse about our nephew, Tedyuskung. You all know that he gives out that he is a great man and chief of ten nations. This is his constant discourse. Now I, on behalf of the Mohawks, say that we do not know he is such a great man, if he is such a great man, we desire to know who made him so. Perhaps you have; and if this be the case, tell us so. It may be the French have made him so. We want to inquire and know whence the greatness arose.”

Takeghsatu, on behalf of the Seneca, said his nation “say the same as Nikes has done.”

Then Assarandongnas spoke on behalf of the Onondaga and said: “I am here to represent the Onondagas, and I say for them that I never heard before now that Tedyuskung was such a great man, and much less can I tell who made him so. No such thing was ever said in our town as that Tedyuskung was such a great man.”

Then followed, in the same strain, Thomas King, chief of Oneida, in behalf of the Oneida, Cayuga, Tuscarora, Nanticoke, Conoy and Tutelo.

Under this concerted attack upon his kingly pretensions Tedyuskung sat like a stoic and never said a word in reply; but Governor Denny arose and denied that he had made Tedyuskung “a great man,” but said in explanation that he had represented the Delaware at appointed places and had acted for the other Six Nations only as a messenger, who were his uncles and superiors. The Governor of New Jersey indorsed Governor Denny’s speech.

Five days after this discussion Tedyuskung arose in the public conference and addressing himself to the deputies of the Six Nations, said:

“Uncles, you may remember that you have placed us at Wyoming and Shamokin—places where Indians have lived before. Now I hear that you have since sold that land to our brethren, the English. Let the matter now be cleared up in the presence of our brethren the English. I sit here as a bird on a bough. I look about and do not know where to go. Let me, therefore, come down upon the ground and make that my own by a good deed, and I shall have a home forever. For if you, my uncles, or I, die, our brethren, the English, will say they have bought it from you, and so wrong my posterity out of it.”

Thomas King, speaking for the Six Nations the following day, addressed himself to the Delaware in these words:

“By this belt Tedyuskung desired us to make you, the Delawares, 702the owners of the lands at Wyoming, Shamokin and other places on the Susquehanna River. In answer to which, we, who are present, say that we have no power to convey lands to any one; but we will take your request to the Great Council fire for their sentiments, as we never sell or convey lands before it is agreed upon in the Great Council of the Six Nations. In the meantime, you may make use of those lands in conjunction with our people.”

Later in the open conference Thomas King presented Tedyuskung with a string of wampum and said: “This serves to put Tedyuskung in mind of his promises to return prisoners. You ought to have performed it before. It is a shame for one who calls himself a great man to tell lies.”

Last Night and Nikes, in behalf of the Six Nations, promised to satisfy the English as to the return of captives, adding: “If any of them are gone down our throats, we will heave them up again.”

Then Takeghsatu told Tedyuskung, the Six Nations having promised to return all captives, the Delaware and Munsee must do likewise.

Thus King Tedyuskung was humiliated in the conference, but never to the point where he ceased to be a most potent factor on the frontiers of Pennsylvania, and in the eyes of the English he was the king he professed himself to be.

One of the most important matters disposed of at this treaty related to the lands purchased by the Pennsylvania Proprietaries at Albany, July 6, 1754.

During the progress of this conference one of the Seneca chiefs in attendance died. He was interred with public ceremony; all the Indians and many of the inhabitants attended the obsequies.

On October 26, the business of the treaty having been finished after eighteen days of speech-making, “some wine and punch were ordered, and the conferences were concluded, with great joy and mutual satisfaction.”

The Indians were supplied with hats, caps, knives, jewsharps, powder, lead paints and walking-sticks (the term by which the Indians referred to rum). In addition, Tedyuskung and other chiefs each received a military hat trimmed with gold lace, a regimental coat and a ruffled shirt.

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